Just from the worlds of baseball, basketball, football and hockey there are nearly 4,000 active professional athletes in the United States. As a result, you're bound to get some repeat names. And that can sometimes lead to some unintentional comedy in the fast-paced world of online sports media. Take, for instance, this story ESPNNewYork.com published on the Boston Bruins trading (white) goaltender Tim Thomas to the New York Islanders, along with an image of (black) former NBA player Tim Thomas.

Hey, at least they both have facial hair. But the resemblance pretty much stops there.

These things happen. I remember back when I worked at theScore.com we once used a picture of (white) Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane as the lead image on our NHL page. The problem was that the story was on (black) Thrashers forward Evander Kane. Because we're all immature, we had a hearty laugh, just as we're doing now.

And just as we'll do on every occasion in which this happens from now until the end of time.

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.